Are you really motivated to succeed?

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What drives you to work hard? What drives you to succeed in life? What is the one thing without which you wouldn’t be able to complete any task? The simple answer is – MOTIVATION. Motivation is the key to open any lock which acts as an obstacle for you to succeed. Without motivation, a person is like fish without water. Whether its completing a simple task or achieving something in life, motivation has a role to play all the time.

But the big question always remains – “How does one motivate himself / herself?”. There are three kinds of people – Those who are self motivated, those who need constant reminding by their family and peers and those who don’t care at all. The set of people who are self motivated are always in the race to stay at the top. They keep a track of their peers, friends, so called enemies and the likes. If they know that their peers are getting way ahead of them, they are always ready to go one up. The rat race is always on and they are an important part of it. This is more than enough to keep them on their toes.

The guy who didn’t bother to remember..!

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He was the dude of the college. Whether it was his looks or the way he spoke to women; whether it was his personality or the aura he exhibited, there was something about him which attracted women of all kinds. There were hundreds who tried for just one chance to get to talk to him. There were others who wanted to spend some time with him over
coffee. And there were some who even went to the extent of wanting to touch him just to know if he was for real. It wasn’t always like this.

He had come as a shy and introvert guy who never even spoke to women let alone befriend them or have a girlfriend. His life revolved around studies, classes, assignments and the likes. But when he faced rejection for the first time in life, he realized that he had not bothered about creating a personality. He didn’t have a sense of style or a persona that people craved for. He didn’t know how to talk properly to anyone let alone his classmates. And so he revamped himself completely so much so that the girls began to go weak in their knees waiting to see him everyday.

And he loved every bit of the attention he got. If today it was one girl, tomorrow it was another. He had spoken to so many women and dated quite a few among them. Relationships with the most interesting ones lasted for a few months while some lasted for days. There were so many women in his life that he forgot their names or what they spoke about. There were times when he would say the same mushy things to many of them without even taking notice.

He had became a sort of casanova who didn’t care who he dated or who he spoke to. And the same had become of the rest of his life as well. Earlier, he was very careful in not hurting friends. But now he knew that to succeed in life, one had to make compromises even if it was leaving friends or loved ones. Sometimes he forgot promises made to loved ones while at other times he forgot how his friends helped him in their earlier times. He had forgotten that love and friendship was also important in his search for success and money.

But then he didn’t bother to remember because he had faced rejection! And rejection was something he couldn’t take..

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda

Guest post: How can a self improvement book help you?

Source: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/chapters/NYN/chapter-news/chapter-news-detail/image.aspx?id=3128

Buying a self-improvement book is not difficult now. You can just have a look in the market and you may find numerous such books adorning the shelves of bookstores around the world. Considering the huge competition in every field today, people want to get successful and compete with each other as fast as they can. Self-improvement books help you to develop an all-round personality. If you really wish to get the information on the topics of your interest, then you need to search a suitable book for yourself. The book you buy should be easy and reasonable to understand.

Book Review – Clear Line of Fire

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‘Clear Line of Fire’ is Badrinath Nuggehalli’s first novel. He has dabbled for many years in advertising and marketing and has also started a marketing consultancy (Aqumena) of his own in Mumbai. This is his first novel. Does it work? Let’s check it out.

The blurb goes like this -

For the first time in history, the USA and Russia have perceived a threat from Indian military technology. They must put it down.

Satyan Sharma, a young entrepreneur, dreams of building a world class software powerhouse. His big chance comes when his company is selected to design the ‘brains’ of high – tech artillery to be produced through collaboration between India and Uzbekistan. Neither the USA nor Russia wants third world upstarts in the global arms industry. They deploy their secret services to manipulate corrupt Indian politicians at the highest level and sabotage the project. Satyan and his fiance Rubita, a feisty TV presenter, find themselves in a dangerous hunt – or – be – hunted game. They use wits and guile to shift the battle to the ground they are familiar with – the media and India’s corporate circles. The deadly struggle takes it toll while Satyan and those around him find both physical courage and moral strength put to extreme tests. What price will Satyan have to pay to turn the tables against the establishment in this high – stakes game?

Clear Line of Fire is a fast – paced thriller; the action moving across Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Washington and Moscow as well as the cold mountains of the Kumaon range.

The cover page and the general font of the book is quite presentable. Rupa Publishing have done a good job in making the prospective reader want to pick up the book from the shelves in stores.

The concept of this novel is quite interesting at the outset. The plot is captivating and gripping making the reader want to go on. The story moves at breakneck speed across locations. There is so much happening all the time that one can’t afford to miss even one bit. Badrinath seems to have done quite some research in the politics of the subcontinent, army jargons and the likes. This shows in the content throughout his book. The narrative is well structured with a clear line of thought. There aren’t too many subplots to confuse anyone.

There are so many sequences in the book which may not be entirely fiction. Corruption, Sabotage, Media games, financial scams, there’s all this and more. The book opens your eyes in many ways to the dark world of politics and defence and the games people play just to get some monetary benefits and enjoy their lives.

Though the book is quite amazing, there are still a few loose ends. Satyan is just supposed to be a dynamic entrepreneur of today. But the fact that he easily fights off and gets through all the muck in the political world as well as survives the trouble from USA and Russia is quite hard to fathom. Nothing much is explained towards the end on what exactly happens after the Russians and Americans knew that they are unsuccessful. There also isn’t a great deal of explanation on what happens to Satyan’s business partner cum friend Jake Mehta other than in the end.

Satyan is quite awesome as the dynamic entrepreneur of today who revives his father’s electronics company and reaches the verge of becoming the biggest private party in the Indian defense industry. Rubita is effective as the feisty TV presenter and Satyan’s better half. She helps him overcome all the difficulties. There is Jake Mehta whose Satyan’s close friend from the US. And then there are a litany of politicians, corporate honchos and bigwigs many of whom are corrupt and always part of the system which they don’t believe can change.

All in all, don’t miss this one if thrillers are your cup of tea.

Rating – 4/5

Movie Review – Aashiqui 2

Source: http://static.indianexpress.com/m-images/Fri%20Apr%2026%202013,%2014:01%20hrs/M_Id_380163_aashiqui2.jpg

Directed by Mohit Suri and produced by the Bhatt family, Aashiqui 2 has been in the news since the time it went on floors. Starring Aditya Roy Kapur (Action Replay and Guzzarish) and Shraddha Kapoor (Teen Patti and Luv ka the End) this musical is not really the sequel or remake of the superhit movie of the 1990s – Aashiqui. But instead it aims to relive those Aashiqui moments 23 years down the line. Does it succeed? Does it make you fall in love all over again? Does the music live up to its promise? Let’s see?

Review: Nokia Lumia 620

Source: http://allthingsd.com/files/2012/12/Nokia.jpg

It’s been sometime since Nokia joined hands with Windows to come out with phones having the Windows OS. The first series of phones with Windows 7 and 7.5 didn’t do too well. There were issues of every kind and Nokia was slowly but surely moving towards disaster. Then came the Windows 8 series enabled phones beginning with Lumia 920 and 820. Lumia 920 has garnered great attention throughout the world with its specs and particularly the amazing camera it has. But the critics were still out saying that Nokia needed to come out with affordable Lumia’s for markets like India and China which are the fastest growing on the planet.

Lumia 620 is the first in the range of the affordable Lumia handsets. So what all does it have? If you are not looking at the black colour, at first glance you would surely notice the colourful back cover. This is the first Lumia handset which comes with changeable back covers (Cyan, Lime Green, Black, White, Magenta, Yellow). The screen size is quite handy at 3.81 inches. It packs a 5MP primary camera and a 1.2 MP secondary camera. This camera is quite good for this price range (Rs 14,200) that is if you are not looking at Indian models like Micromax, Karbonn etc like me. It provides you all the features like Panorama, Face Detection, Multiple Shots, Auto Focus with touch etc.

In conversation with Rishi Vohra – Author of Once Upon the Tracks of Mumbai

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Rishi Vohra recently relocated back to Mumbai after completing a Green MBA from San Francisco State University and a Masters Diploma in Environmental Law, prior to which he has had a successful career in the Indian entertainment industry. Having been a guest columnist for various newspapers in India, he currently writes for delWine and is a Certified Specialist of Wine. ‘Once Upon the Tracks of Mumbai’ is his first novel.

Source: http://www.jaicobooks.com/j/Book%20Rev/Once%20upon%20the%20Tracks%20of%20Mumbai%20Hi!%20BLITZ%20Nov%2012.jpg

He is here with us for a short tete-a-tete.

Aseem: Take us through your journey from the entertainment industry to releasing a novel.
Rishi: Well Aseem, it was a long journey. After my B.S. in Corporate Finance / Film making from the U.S., I moved back to Mumbai. I started of in ad films and then moved on to feature films as an assistant director. Side by side, I was also independently directing music videos, TV shows, stage shows, live events, and promos. During this time, I realized that writing is where my passion lay. So I kept writing as I proceeded to San Francisco to study an MBA in Sustainability. During that time, I wrote a novel and pushed it for publication while working / studying. Though it was rejected in the U.S. and other foreign markets, several Indian publishers showed an interest in it.

Aseem: Was it a natural progression for you to write a novel since you were already writing newspaper columns?
Rishi: I never chalked out a path in writing. But I guess that that’s the national progression for any columnist. But most of my columns are related to wine, so for me both were totally different and unrelated.

Aseem: How difficult is it for a first time author to set sail on the journey of publishing a novel? What all challenges did you face?
Rishi: I guess it is kind of difficult because your manuscript is one of the fifty that publishers receive each day. Your subject matter has to be interesting and really stand out for a publisher to take notice of it.

In my case, I faced many challenges, both before publication and after. I realized the amount of effort and resources it takes to market a book to a pan India audience.

Aseem: The main character of your novel is described as autistic, schizophrenic and psychotic. Considering that this character type is quite rare in the Indian literary industry, was it a challenge to describe how he feels, how he behaves etc.?
Rishi: That was the toughest part, Aseem. And it took an immense amount of research, both primary and secondary. Through the help of the psychology department at my university in the U.S., I interacted with many students with disabilities. This and other factors helped me shape up Babloo’s character.

Aseem: Your love for Mumbai is evident from how beautifully you have described the city. So what does Mumbai mean to you?
Rishi: Thanks for your kind words, Aseem. Mumbai means just one word to me – home.

Aseem: So is this story inspired from real life incidents?
Rishi: Not at all, Aseem. It’s complete fiction though there are some glimpses of my life in the book.

Aseem: Considering the Bollywood-ish touch to the story, do you plan to make this one into a movie anytime soon?
Rishi: Yes, I do. A prominent director just got in touch with me and expressed an interest in the book pending the approval of his main actor. So I’m waiting to hear back from him. Otherwise, I haven’t pitched it to any filmmaker as of yet.

Aseem: Do you plan to become a full time writer one day?
Rishi: I would love to!

Aseem: Any upcoming books we can look forward to?
Rishi: Yes, there’s another book based in the Hindi Film Industry. I have yet to place it for publication.

Aseem: Your take on the Indian literary market today?
Rishi: The literary market is booming. Though it has its upsides, the downside is that books don’t have a long shelf life in bookstores and the author has to put a lot of effort in publicity to make his / her book stand out amongst so many others.

Aseem: Reading or Writing – You prefer?
Rishi: Writing.

Aseem: How do you spend your free time?
Rishi: Mostly with family and friends. I like trying out new things all the time. Like recently, I watched an IPL match at Wankhede and I don’t usually watch matches live. Mostly, I like being around people. But when I’m all alone you always catch me with a book in hand.

Aseem: What’s your message for first time writers as well as your readers?
Rishi: For first time writers, you will get published. Just keep at it! And keep reading as it only improves your storytelling and writing skills.

For my readers, thank you for reading my book, making it a bestseller, and turning this writer into an author. I love you all!

Thanks Rishi for the lovely interview. We wish you all the best for your future books and other endeavours.

Guest Post: Hollywood’s 5 Worst Movie Sequels

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Bruce Willis makes a comeback with another ‘Die Hard’ sequel. Though the iconic action sequences of the earlier films are present in this latest sequel, you cannot wonder whether it was necessary to make yet another movie with a tired old formula. Mind you, the box office collection record shows that the producers of the movie are laughing all the way to the bank. There are other examples like the ‘Harry potter’ franchise and the ever green ‘James Bond’ movies which in between them have grossed several billion dollars.

But not all the sequels of an original hit have been as successful. Of course, nobody intentionally wants to make a bad movie but some sequels seem utterly unnecessary and very inept. Here is the list of 5 such movies which suffered from a steep lack of quality from the original movie.

Waisi Wali Khushi – In search of happiness..

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Who doesn’t want to be happy? Don’t we search for happiness everywhere? Sometimes we search for happiness in our work while at other times we search for happiness in relationships. Sometimes we search for happiness in what others do while at other times we search for happiness in small pleasures of life. We humans have so many wants which keep increasing day by day and that’s why our search for happiness always keeps continuing.

‘Waisi Wali Khushi’ is a short film which talks about that happiness which Punit Malhotra (Director of ‘I Hate Luv Storys & the upcoming ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’) is searching for. He tells ‘Masha Pour’ his story. He is tired of his hectic 9-6 job day in and day out. And one day he decides to leave for Bangkok to have some fun of his own. Till the day he takes off, he always believes that money is all that which can bring happiness to his life. He is part of the rat race which we all are part of. But then he decides to let go and unwind. He decides that enough is enough and starts living life on his own terms. The rest of the movie deals with how he actually finds his happiness.

That eerie night..

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Since he was in a support project, his work timings differed every two weeks. So for two weeks a month it was a 9am – 6pm shift while for the other two weeks it was a 9pm – 6am shift. He was a very hardworking, honest and dedicated resource. Whether it was being asked to work on weekends or on public holidays or even spend late hours, he never refused. That night there wasn’t much work at office. All his teammates had left by 1am. But he thought to spend some more time in learning a few more concepts which sounded confusing to him. By 3am he packed his stuff and set out to leave.